Help us, councilman
We here at the Arbours are a community of 600-plus people who are vehemently opposed to a planned site by Brandywine Realty Trust in our backyards. This site calls for roads to accommodate tractor trailers and off-loading docks that will operate 24/7 directly behind our homes.
This huge distribution center of 659,000 square feet with 559-vehicle parking will dramatically harm the quality of our lives, our health and our property values. There will be no escaping the ground-shaking noise, the smells of diesel fuel and the toxic chemical pollution. The homes that we sunk our retirement money into will be unlivable and unsellable.
Our Councilman O’Neill has the power to stop this. He is quoted in the Inquirer saying that he prioritizes the concerns of immediate neighbors when making decisions about development proposals. He is also quoted in 2018 at a meeting of the Somerton Civic Association that a like proposal on land zoned exactly as the land behind our houses at 15000 E. Roosevelt Blvd. was not appropriate. He said, “A distribution center is not the kind of light industrial that belongs behind people’s homes.”
Our sincere hope is that Councilman O’Neill will see this letter and be moved to live up to his reputation and his campaign promises. As of now, our many pleas to him have gone unanswered.
Signed by Jim Ballentine, Christine Ballentine, Glenn Branch, Linda Branch, Walt Cooper, Dee Cooper, Bobbi DiFelice, Nelson Delguardo, Annette Delguardo, Matthew Fung, Teresa Fung, Judy Hannigan, Mike Hernandez, Evelyn Hernandez, Joy Kauffman, Jack Kilty, Ginny Kilty, George Mansfield, Patricia Mansfield, John Martin, Rita Martin, Olga Pasini, Mikhail Perednik, Robert Pilotti, Eleanor Pilotti, Lynda Schaefer, Linda Sohm, Mark Spiegel, Joe Wetzel, Veronica Wetzel, Howard Zeitz, Carole Zeitz, Robert Bowman, Linda Spadaro, Toni Discher, Michael Flood, Steven Lawrence, Sandra Lawrence, Harry Lawrence
White immigrants worked hard to assimilate
A recent letter in the NE Times could not be more wrong.
His commentary about Italians and Irish being welcome with open arms is not even close to accurate. I am a first-generation Italian. My father arrived in the USA in 1920 leaving Italy because of the situation that existed post WWI. In 1929 he lost everything due to the Depression. I can assure you we grew up poorer than about 95% of the people claiming poverty today. We were not welcome with open arms and tolerated all kinds of slurs about our ethnic background and culture. My grandparents actually needed a sponsor to enter the country. They were required to learn English.
My wife is of Irish and Lithuanian heritage. They were treated just as poorly. There are pictures of signs that were posted Irish Need Not Apply. In fact, there is a musical group in Philly using that as a name. Bottom line is white immigrants from Europe did not receive special treatment and worked very hard to assimilate into American culture.
As far as what white people have access to, the bottom line is what we worked for we earned. What a novel concept. My first job was 50 cents an hour in a corner pharmacy delivering prescriptions on foot in all types of weather. I grew up near Connie Mack Stadium. I retired as a VP from a major financial institution, which took a long time with a lot of dedication and hard work.
Anthony Dello Russo
Fox Chase
Too little, too late
No thanks, Mr. Kenney. I have too many nice places outside the city to eat, drink and visit during your total blackout. This, all because of your onerous rules and delayed openings. Outside the city is also cheaper. No $30-40 parking cost, no 10% drink tax, no soda tax, no tobacco tax and no extra 2% school sales tax. What I save on one night actually pays for half of a meal. Your opening the city doesn’t provide most people any benefits. It only increases the costs of going out and shopping. Again, thanks, but no thanks.
Richard Donofry
East Torresdale
What is a ‘birther person’?
I am concerned about Missouri congresswoman Cori Bush, who has apparently done away with all pregnant women in the country in favor of something called a birther person. Any reasonable person must question her grip on reality.
Joe Jackson
Bustleton
Solve the homeless problem
Does Mayor Bloomberg really help the homeless?
Above person spent over $1 billion to run for the presidency of the United States and lost. He knew he would not receive the nomination. So why do this?
All the billionaires in this country, just to name a few like Bloomberg, Bezos, Bill Gates, etc., could solve the homeless problem plus homeless veterans just like that. But no. Why?
Also, Hunter Biden to speak at Tulane University on media polarization. This should be fake news.
Richard Krzaczek
Lexington Park
Listen more carefully
Last week in the Letters to the Editor, Joe Jackson criticized President Biden’s statement that the attack on the U.S. Capitol was “the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.” He seems to mistake “our democracy” for our country.
The attack on the Capitol was intended to stop the confirmation of the election of Joseph Biden as the president of the U.S. That is an attack on our democracy by trying to overthrow an election with force and attempting to kill some of our elected officials. It is different from Pearl Harbor or 9/11/2001, which were attacks on our country.
People need to listen more carefully and think more critically before they jump to conclusions and make false assumptions.
Sarah Kolb
Rhawnhurst
Allow trans women in sports
Martina White masked blatant transphobia under the phrase “biological reality.”
In response to Biden’s executive order, she claimed that “biological men” or trans-women, who she describes as “bigger, faster and stronger,” shouldn’t be allowed to play alongside weaker young girls in sports because they pose a physical threat to their safety. She claimed that these girls need players more on their “level” so they can enjoy sports.
The most disturbing part of Martina’s message is her feminist hypocrisy. She claims Biden’s executive order, which aims to include all women, including transgender women, in sports, will be harmful. She supports her argument by belittling women’s physical strength and abilities, claiming that even the most talented high school woman softball player would be no match for a “big, fast, biological male.” At the same time, she attempts to justify patriarchy and male superiority in sports. Her excessive use of the term “level playing field,” interchangeable with the well-known sexist slogan, “You play like a girl,” puts an emphasis on the male-dominant dynamic in sports, instead of on the inclusivity of those who identify as women. She uses this excuse-for-feminism tactic to mask her transphobia.
Another one of Martina’s concerns was the supposed threat Biden’s executive order posed to Title IX, and women’s strides for equal opportunity in sports.
Biden’s order won’t weaken or interfere with this initiative. In section 1 of the executive order, it says education institutions that receive federal funding must allow boys who self-identify as girls to participate in female sports, and that there would be administrative consequences if not. Meaning, the goal of the initiative is to be more inclusive and more opportunity oriented.
As a young woman who plays field hockey, I am deeply disheartened by her hypocritical demand for women’s rights as she advocates for a strong patriarchy and the exclusion of transgender women in sports.
Mahala Garcia-Bartch
Central High School
Fox Chase
Biden has the know how
I notice some of the commenters who come here to show their displeasure for our current President Joe Biden. Yet these same complainers will give Donald Trump an easy pass. Joe Jackson’s May 5 letter said president 46 insulted the 9/11 heroes and Pearl Harbor. Well in my opinion, you, sir, misinterpreted the president’s statement. Remember we lost about 400,000 American lives due to COVID under Trump’s incompetence and his neglect to let science lead while his ego for greed allowed him to play Russian roulette with our lives. What makes him think that he deserves another time in office if his fist was full of lies, criminal acts and deceit?
I’m thankful to have a real president again with the experience and know how to lead us and at the same time clear up the mess that was made by the previous occupant of the White House. And, yes, the Jan. 6 Capitol attack was the worst because it was home grown by radicals who thought, just like their dear leader who enticed it, they were above the law. Thank you, President Joe Biden, for allowing the U.S. to have hope, trust and breathe again.
Carl Williams
Rhawnhurst
Capitol attack worst since Civil War
I wanted to point out some things about Mr. Jackson’s letter criticizing President Biden for stating that the Jan. 6 attack was “the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.”
Mr. Jackson, you mentioned 9/11 and the attack on Pearl Harbor but you did not mention the Oklahoma City bombing, which, like the Capitol attack, was done by United States citizens. That is the difference between those two events and 9/11 and the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Also, as for the attack on Pearl Harbor, in the end the United States won the war. As for 9/11, most people accept the fact that most, if not all, of the perpetrators of the attack are either dead or currently at Guantanamo Bay. As for the Oklahoma City bombing, one of the four people who helped with planning that attack is dead and another is serving a life sentence. The third person served almost eight years in prison after making a plea deal for him and his wife.
The sad thing about the Capitol attack is that according to present law, it is possible that most if not all of the people who were charged in that attack could get very little jail time, if any at all.
It is possible that many of the hundreds of people who participated in the Capitol attack will not get charged with any crime. That is what makes the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol one of the worst attacks on our democracy since the Civil War.
Pat Johnson
Burholme
Stop the hate
I was born and raised in the USA. Served in the military with honors, 70 years old, good citizen and neighbor.
Still people ask this question, where are you from? I know they ask this question because my skin color and because my name.
I am an American, but people don’t consider Latinos American, even though you were born in this country.
If you are not white and don’t have a last name that is American, people will not consider you of being American.
This is something that also happens to a lot of people from other countries, like Asians.
While watching the news about the attacks on Asian people, I was amazed by the hate and the comments. One of their main comments was the same question some people asked me all the time, where are you from, where did you learn English?
Even though they were born here in the USA.
Skin color, or name don’t make you an American. If you are born or become a citizen, you are an American like everybody else.
Stop the hate and the racism.
Carlos Perez
Rhawnhurst
